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Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

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Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#31

Post by nradov »

polote wrote: post #22
vemv wrote: post #5

As a mountain biker Strava feels just silly. It's a leaderboard for imaginary races that can be trivially cheated, be it via GPS idiosyncracies or by using an electric bike. I reckon the features oriented towards navigation/discovery are ok, but it's a crowded space with a relatively low barrier to entry. I wouldn't be surprised if one only can make marginal gains with those 110M, but with a high pressure for ROIng w…

> I wouldn't be surprised if one only can make marginal gains with those 110M Strava is a social network. Like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit. The day you have hundred of millions of users you stop the bullshit with premium features and you start putting ads and you make money. I'm not worried for them at all

Strava has had ads in the form of sponsored challenges for years. But those are mostly for brand building rather than selling specific products.

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#32

Post by pdxandi »

riderhj7 wrote: post #17

I’ve never been a huge fan of Strava. The segments feel really messy to me. Go for a ride/run and in popular areas you can get hundreds of irrelevant segments. I primarily use Garmin connect now with Strava serving more as a backup. Sad that Endomondo died when it was acquired.

I used to race road bikes and segments were a great way to compete during training rides and the off-season. I haven't raced in years, but it was a lot of fun trying to best your teammates time, or someone you race against.

Now I mostly run and it's far less interesting. I mostly just use it to log my workouts. I love Strava, though, and appreciate the platform they created and opened up for free. I think it's a great product.

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#33

Post by OrwellianChild »

By tradition, fundraising = aggressive pursuit of monetization = degradation of features and increases in the use of dark patterns... As someone else mentioned - if they haven't made money 'til now, it's not looking good.

Anyone find a decent way to track GPS activity on a more open system that isn't plagued by upsells? I'd even take a local solution if it is decent enough to sync with my Garmin and track critical stats about my runs/rides...

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#34

Post by voisin »

nradov wrote: post #14
voisin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the discovery features frustrating. They focus on Segments of runs rather than complete routes. Compare to AllTrails for best in class IMHO.

Strava does have a curated list of complete routes for selected cities. https://www.strava.com/local

In Canada they have two cities, excluding our largest, Toronto, and many other major cities (Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa, Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg, etc etc). Having a curated list like this that excludes huge cities when you have millions of users running in these cities and smaller seems ludicrous. What are they adding by curating? If something of value then add a “Strava Approved” badge, but for the love of god let people post full routes and rate them!

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#36

Post by macNchz »

jasonl99 wrote: post #35

I tried Strava, but it just wasn't detailed enough for me. I ended up finding smashrun.com. Granted it's only for running, but it's phenomenal. I've been a subscriber for years now, and I can't say enough positive things about it.

Yeah my GPS watch syncs to several apps including Strava because my friends use it, but Smashrun is so much more interesting and valuable for understanding trends and patterns in my fitness. I had a premium Strava subscription for a while, but canceled it last year in favor of Smashrun.

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#37

Post by 762236 »

vemv wrote: post #5

As a mountain biker Strava feels just silly. It's a leaderboard for imaginary races that can be trivially cheated, be it via GPS idiosyncracies or by using an electric bike. I reckon the features oriented towards navigation/discovery are ok, but it's a crowded space with a relatively low barrier to entry. I wouldn't be surprised if one only can make marginal gains with those 110M, but with a high pressure for ROIng w…

I love it for both mountain and road cycling. I pay for it, to use its modeling to help avoid over training. I like the social aspects of it. I learn new routes by following people, including the local pros. It's a treat when people write entertaining ride reports.

It's hard to imagine that GPS errors help cheating, unless you're paying attention to really tiny segments. I'm interested only in segments that are at least 5 minutes, but normally 20 to 40 minutes. It would be really hard to reliably cheat to your followers who get to see how you grow over time and gain an understanding of the performances you can deliver. And if you track heart rate, cadence, and power, it becomes really easy to see what is legit. I have power meters on my mountain and road bikes.

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#38

Post by Slimbo »

voisin wrote: post #10
timerol wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The leaderboard aspects of Strava are the worst part. I like it as a personal training log, and as a way to keep up with friends who are also being fit. The social aspects are really nice, as it's fun to be asked about your run through X over the weekend, or to know who to ask about running routes in a certain park. It's also a nice nudge to go work out. "I don't have anything on Strava yet this week, I should go for…

It would be nice to be able to look at month by month rather than week by week, and not just sequentially but year over year to see improvements.

It keeps your history on segments and rides for years. Really good for that in fact.

Re: Strava raises $110M, growth rate of 2M new users per month in 2020

#39

Post by nextaccountic »

vemv wrote: post #5

As a mountain biker Strava feels just silly. It's a leaderboard for imaginary races that can be trivially cheated, be it via GPS idiosyncracies or by using an electric bike. I reckon the features oriented towards navigation/discovery are ok, but it's a crowded space with a relatively low barrier to entry. I wouldn't be surprised if one only can make marginal gains with those 110M, but with a high pressure for ROIng w…

I don't want to compare my performance against other people, I want to compare with my former self.
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